Last Hope
by The Lovely Cynic
Summary: [OneShot] Just a little story about Babette and Lumiere. Cute, fluffy.


**Last Hope**

"Babette?" The transformed prince, Alphonse Facet, called into the crowd of people at the opening of a fine French dining restaurant. A pretty, petite woman with long, straight brown hair, a formal blue gown and white gloves ran up to the handsome man. "Babette?" he called again. A woman with long brown hair in a formal green dress and tiara was standing next to him. "Ah, Babette," he sighed as the petite woman arrived in front of him, "Belle and I were wondering if Lumière came with you in your carriage?"

"Pardonez-moi, monsieur, but Lumière was supposed to escort me, but I could not find him when it was time to leave." Babette sighed, wringing her hands together nervously.

"Oh, dear, he was supposed to give a review of this restaurant… I suppose Cogsworth could do it, but he is such a snob. He would be so… so picky." Belle groaned as she shook her head. "Would you be so kind as to fetch him?"

"Yes, it wouldn't take that long, would it? Twenty minutes, maybe?" Alphonse smiled. Babette closed her eyes for a moment and thought.

"I'm not sure where I would start looking," she mumbled.

"S'il-vous plaît, Babette? It would save us so much grief," Belle pleaded.

Babette stared at the cobblestone street for a moment before giving in and nodding. "I will be back in twenty minutes to about half an hour, oui? I do not want to miss the opening." She looked at Alphonse and Belle with hopeful eyes. "But I will do it. Au revoir for now, madame et monsieur." She said with a small curtsey. She then ran to the extravagant carriage she had arrived in. "Take me to the castle, monsieur." She sighed, nodding at the coachman.

Babette had lied to the prince, of course. She had indeed called for Lumière, but she had not looked for him, to say. She had figured nobody would notice. She also almost _knew _that he was off with some other woman since he was always out to make her jealous. Although, she was not one to talk. She usually tried a trick or two to make Lumière jealous, as well and it typically worked.

As the carriage bumped along the road, her mind wandered and wandered around the subject of Lumière. He was handsome and kind at times, but he just couldn't stay to one girl! It always had to be two… or three, four, even! Babette wanted him all to herself. But, she wasn't stupid. She knew that could never happen.

"Mademoiselle?" the coachman asked, holding the coach's door open for Babette. "We are at the castle." Babette suddenly snapped out of her daze. She smiled and jumped out of the coach, slowly, but surely walking up to the castle. She was nervous to what she'd find in the castle. She swallowed hard and opened the large doors to the now bright castle.

"Lumière?" she called. There was no answer. She strained to hear anything, even a movement. "Lumière?" she yelled louder. Still nothing. She bunched together the sides of her long gown and moved up the stairs. "Lumière?" She suddenly heard a fraction of a sound coming from his bedroom. She couldn't quite make out what it was, but she didn't quite want to find out. Yet, she was told to fetch Lumière to give an important review. She groaned and pressed her ear to the door. She heard soft sound of… giggling, maybe? She let out an exasperated breath and laid a shaky hand on the doorknob and turned it.

There lay Lumière on another blonde-haired, giggling, gasping girl. Babette growled and shook her head. She swung the door open and cried, "Lumière!" Lumière suddenly fell off of the girl and she pulled the blanket over her chest. "Lumière, have you completely forgotten about the restaurant opening?" she yelled. "You forget everything whenever some pretty little thing even comes _near _you! Always drooling over everyone!"

"You are not one to talk, Babette. Have you already _forgotten _about last week with Christophe?" Lumière quipped.

"Oh, Christophe! At least I'm not _sleeping _with him, am I?" she retorted.

"Babette, do we always have to argue like this?" Lumière growled, "In front of company, too,"

She snorted and said, "It's your fault, Lumière! Now get dressed and get in the carriage! I will be waiting for you there," she snapped, sauntering out of the room and heading towards the carriage.

---

The coach ride down to the restaurant was a quiet one indeed. Babette was fuming silently, a furious look locked on her regularly seductive face. Lumière was wordlessly wondering how he had forgotten about something so important, even the master had told him himself. Was Babette right when she said he forgot everything whenever he saw a pretty little girl walk by? "Lumière!" Babette said harshly, "Out of the carriage, we are here!" Lumière suddenly snapped back to reality and gracefully exited the coach.

Lumière was greeted by Belle and Alphonse, while Babette went off somewhere where Lumière wasn't. She grumbled as she politely and elegantly pushed her way through the crowd when she bumped into somebody familiar. "Oh, excusez-moi- oh, Mrs. Potts! Pardonez-moi," she sighed, straitening her dress.

"Oh, it's all right, dear," Mrs. Potts said, giving her a warm smile. Her smile suddenly faded when she saw Babette's angry, but miserable expression. "My, my, dear, what in the world is the matter?" she asked, putting a hand on Babette's slender shoulder. "Come, sit down with me. Maybe I can help." Mrs. Potts then led her over to a bench near the neighboring park. Babette stared at glow of the lights from the restaurant on the gray pavement. They were sitting in a rather dark corner of the square, so the glow of the moon shone down on them more than usual. An exquisitely carved fountain was spouting out water merrily. The water seemed the capture the moonlight within it. "Now, what is bothering you?"

Babette groaned and buried her face in her hands. "Oh, it's Lumière, of course! I found him in bed with some little, blonde… whore!" she snarled, adding the last word as if she had finally found a word to call her.

_"Oh, non, Lumière!" Babette squealed, giggling like a schoolgirl as Lumière kissed up along her arm and to her neck. "Oh, Lumière, you are simply a beast!" she sighed, blushing._

_"Babette, would you mind if I escorted you to the restaurant opening the master is invited to? I could get us our own table, so it would be like our own private outing." He said with a grin._

_"Oh, Lumière, of course I would not mind!" Babette replied._

"Oh, dear, that's terrible," Mrs. Potts said sympathetically. "But, you know Lumière, he can never keep his hands to himself!" she chuckled. Babette groaned and her dark, stormy expression turn to a plain depressed one. "But… I can see it is really bothering you,"

"Yes, it is. Lumière got us a private table so we can eat together alone. How am I supposed to survive that?" she grumbled, crossing her arm, "He will probably end up going off with the waitress," she said, bemoaning the inevitable future. "He is quite the casanova," she muttered, a slight smirk passed across her lips, but it vanished quickly when a voice surpassed the crowd's.

"Gather 'round, everyone!" the voice shouted. The crowd went deadly silent and made their way around the pedestal an exquisitely dressed man in a white powder wig stood upon. "The grand opening is about to start!" he said, clapping his hands together, "The mayor and the prince themselves are here to cut the ribbon! Mais oui, would the prince and the mayor please come up here?" he called. Alphonse and a rather skinny, arrogant looking man stepped up to the pedestal. A round of applause diffused through the mass of people. "It is with great pleasure that the prince and I welcome this fine looking restaurant to our small community. Prince Alphonse, s'il-vous plaît?" the mayor said, handing the knife to the prince. "Cut the ribbon, s'il-vous plait." Alphonse grinned into the crowd and gentilly sliced the ribbon. Another round of applause circulated through the multitude of people as they all entered the building.

"Oh, no…" Babette whimpered, daintily going into the restaurant. She arrived at the greeter and the maitre d'. "Name?" he asked.

"Babette Garnier," she replied, a frown still on her face.

"Follow me," he said. The restaurant was finely decorated with red carpets, white tablecloths, maple borders and white painted walls. On the ceiling was a mural of an angel in the setting sun. The table the maitre d' led her to was in the far corner of the restaurant, rather private and candlelit. "Merci," she said, nodding to the maitre d' and sitting down. "He probably won't even show up…" she grumbled, tempted to blow out the candle and leave. She stared at the happily dancing candle flame and smile, remembering when Lumière was a candlestick himself.

"Salut, mademoiselle," a deep voice said, breaking Babette's concentration.

"Ah, Lumière, you decided to show up," she sniffed indignantly. "I wasn't exactly expecting you to,"

"Babette, please, why are you acting so cold towards me?" Lumière inquired, a scowl on his face. "It's rather infuriating, since I actually do fancy you," he said, an amused grin on his face.

"Well, Lumière, if that _is _true, why off with other women all the time?" she snapped. "And it is true, monsieur, it is _all the time_."

"Oh, please, it is not '_all the time_'! Occasionally, maybe-"

"Occasionally? Occasionally is bad enough! Can you not simply keep to me? And if you cannot keep to me… keep to somebody else!" she shouted, causing many stares from neighboring tables.

Lumière stared at her in shock and surprise. "Well," he said quietly, "no offense, chérie, you are not exactly the most… participant woman on the face of the Earth."

"Oh, Lumière, could you be any more insulting?" she sighed, getting up calmly with the intention to leave, but blew out the candle first. She covered her forehead with one hand and walked away with a hurt expression on her face.

She walked promptly out the door to the balcony overlooking the moonlit pond in the park. Babette felt even worse than before. Had she simply left Lumière? Although, she had never been technically _with _him in the first place. She felt strongly for Lumière… very strongly. Yet, she knew he could never return the feelings she had.

She continued to look into the pond, keeping a look out for any sign of movement. _Perhaps nothing is living in it. Perhaps it is empty. _She thought. Empty. Like she felt then. She felt a stream of tears flowing down her cheeks. _Oh, please, all this over Lumière? Were you expecting him to suddenly change? _She sniffed and shrugged. Although, she was subconsciously hoping he would change, Babette was no fool. Lumière would not change for anybody.

She felt a cold wind brush up against her skin. This came as a shock to her as she felt the hairs on her body raise. Her teeth began chattering as she rubbed her arms between shivering fits. She started to whimper and think about going back inside, but decided against it since she did not want to face Lumière. She simply continued to suffer in the cold and wind. The wind gently brushed away her tears, but more kept coming. She sniffed shakily due to the cold.

She suddenly felt a soft fabric being draped across her shoulders. "Would the monsieur kindly remove his coat? I am quite fine as I am," she said, attempting to swallow the lump in his throat. Since she was unable to, her words came out in a gasping, choking manner. She then tried to shake the coat off, but a pair of hands held it there. Since the gentleman's coat was on her, her shivering became much less violent, but her whimpering and tears came much more frequently.

"I hate to disagree, mademoiselle, but you do not seem fine as you are. You seem rather… scattered." Babette almost immediately recognized the voice that was speaking.

"Lumière! Would you please just leave me alone?" she shouted, a sob escaping her lips. She groaned and buried her face in her hands as she started to cry harder.

"Babette, ma chère, quiet yourself," he said, turning her around and taking her hands away from her face. He used one of his hands to take her hers and the other one to lift her chin up to face him, although she would still not look at him. He frowned and brushed away the tears streaming down her face. Babette almost instinctively flinched when he touched her face. "Look at me," he said in a low whisper. Babette refused to look at him and kept her eyes down. "Babette… s'il-vous plait?" he sighed and lifted her chin up more until her eyes met his. Her eyes darted around, but finding nowhere to look, gazed into his. Hers were red and puffy from crying and filled with tears and sorrow. "You look ravishing," he said with a warm smile.

"Enough with your charm, I am through with it," she mumbled, freeing her chin from his grasp and lowering it once again. "If you cannot _solely _keep to me, leave immediately." Lumière did not move, but he did flinch slightly. "If you're still here, you are promising me." She said, looking up to see him still standing there. "I love you, Lumière. But how can you love me? As Madame Potts says, you cannot keep your hands to yourself. Maybe I should just not bother with you any longer… save the grief and distress," she grumbled.

"Babette, do not say that. You _should _bother with me. If you feel like that about me, you should bother." He grinned.

"Well… I do… _want _to. But I don't know if I should since, well, you don't love me," she said, voice almost a whisper.

"Babette, chérie, who I ever said I did not?" he smirked.

"Then why do you flirt and sleep with other women?" she asked, eyebrows arching.

"It was for the fun of it at first, before you came along and then… it was to make you jealous," He murmured, feeling slightly embarrassed.

"Sounds like me," she sighed, smiling a bit, "So… you do?" she asked softly. Lumière sighed and nodded. Babette looked up gradually and stared into Lumière's eyes, searching for a hint of a lie and found none. She smiled and cautiously moved herself closer to him, until she found herself in a warm embrace. She closed her eyes and felt like melting in Lumière's arms. She didn't feel cold anymore then. She slowly wrapped her arms around his torso and sighed happily. "Perhaps we should get inside and order so you can do your review, mon chèr?"

"Perhaps," he grinned, kissing the crown of her head before they let go of each other and walked back inside.


End file.
